Following from Saturday’s 34-25 win for Japan over Canada at Swangard Stadium, four things that we learned about the Canadian team…

1. The defence needs work.

It goes without saying. Everyone saw it, everyone knows it. There were missed tackles aplenty in midfield – and it’s not just on Harry Jones and Nick Blevins. There instances in the first half where the likes of Tyler Ardron and Adam Kleeberger missed front-up tackles. International rugby is hard rugby. For whatever reason, Canada forgot that on Saturday. Mistakes happen – but then again, Japan missed just three tackles the week before against Samoa. Near-perfection is possible. The sevens squad built much of their success this season on improved defence, there are obvious lessons there.

On the three ugly breaks that lead to Japanese tries, miscommunication – or was it lack of communication – between Jones, Blevins and the defenders supporting on the inside left them standing still while Japan was running hard at them. That must be fixed.

2. The scrum needs work.

Japan’s scrum is much improved under the tutelage of Marc dal Maso, that much is clear. They punished the USA last year, they punished the All Blacks too. But they’re no bigger than Canada’s pack. Perhaps being together already for more than a month helped; but if Canada doesn’t get better this weekend against Scotland or even next week against the USA, it’s back to crisis stations.

Japan had Canada under pressure in the sets from the get-go, rarely did Canada find secure ball from their own set piece. That has to change.

3. How to get the backs to fire with more consistency?

Taylor Paris gets pushed to the ground by Japan’s Ayumu Goromaru during their international rugby match at Swangard Stadium THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

Two of Canada’s three tries were all about Canada’s quality in the back line. There was plenty of attacking verve. The game plan is to push the defensive pressure points from sideline to sideline, looking for weaknesses. With wingers like Jeff Hassler and Taylor Paris, it’s a good approach. Both wingers had their moments, especially in the first half, but more is needed.

Harry Jones and Connor Braid did make things happen when they put their foot down, drawing defenders to them and opening up gaps, especially on inside lines. But they didn’t do it enough in the second half. Nick Blevins had a tough game too. Kieran Crowley likes him as an inside centre because of his hard-yards mentality – but we didn’t see enough of that on Saturday. Too often he was caught flat footed and under pressure from Japan’s interior defence. We’ve seen him play front-foot-forward stuff before; against Scotland, it will be vital.

Gord McRorie was solid in his debut, delivering good service to Jones. Phil Mack came on and played his on-your-toes game, either is a good option at this point, though the pace Mack injected was noticeable.

Many pointed to the absence of Conor Trainor and Phil Mackenzie as possible problems. But forget about them – despite what we saw in the BC vs Canada Selects trial, neither was at 100 per cent. So the question shifts to, ‘what about Underwood and Parfrey?’ The former is in concussion-recovery mode, so who knows when he’s back. Parfrey is a very different player to Blevins, so what do you do with him? And what about DTH? He looked rusty in his late minutes in place of Hearn, but you’ve got to believe he’ll be better next time out.

THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

4. Red zone finishing

In the second half, Canada was not without their chances. They held the ball well and broke into Japan’s 22 multiple times in the second stanza, but came away with no points. They were guilty of losing continuity between attackers and support, turning the ball over with silly holding on penalties.

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